Christ, "Leader and Finisher of faith," the Shepherd going before the sheep, Jehovah His Lord and satisfying portion, the saints His delight,
Michtam of David.
Preserve Me, O God, for in Thee have I taken refuge.
2. I have said unto Jehovah,"Thou art the Lord:My goodness adds not to Thee;
3. " [It is] for the saints which are upon the earth, and the excellent, in whom is all My delight."
4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied who have run after another; their drink-offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names upon My lips.
5. Jehovah is the measure of My portion and My cup; Thou maintainest My lot.
6. The lines are fallen unto Me in pleasant places; yea, fair is My inheritance to Me.
7. I have set Jehovah before Me continually:because He is at My right hand, I am not moved.
8. I bless Jehovah, who giveth Me counsel; yea, by night My reins detain Me.
9 Wherefore My heart hath rejoiced, and My glory exalteth; yea, My flesh shall rest in confidence;
10. For Thou wilt not leave My soul in hades; Thou wilt not give Thy godly one to see corruption.
11. Thou wilt show Me the path of life; fullness of joys in Thy presence; pleasures at Thy right hand for evermore.
Text.-Title, "Michtam:" probably a "golden" psalm, from kethem, " gold."
(1) "God:" El, the "Mighty."
(2) This and the following verse are very variously translated. They are a pregnant illustration of the fact that a knowledge of what is in the mind of the Spirit is of value far beyond mere critical acumen. If we see David here only or principally, the difficulty of consistent rendering is very great (as see Moll in Lange's Commentary).It is Christ seen prophetically taking His place as man upon earth, subject to Jehovah as His Lord, and recognizing creature-nothingness before Him, yet a goodness which avails in behalf of the saints, in whom His delight is.
"I have said:" so the Sept., Pesh., and Vulg., with most modern commentators, taking it as a defective form, which is found in the later Aramaic. It seems preferable to assuming an address to the soul, with the Rabbins and the A. V.
"The Lord," confessedly the ordinary word for this,-Adonai. There is no need for "My," which takes from the force.
"My goodness (lit.) is not [al] additional to Thee." Most translators say, "My good," in the sense "I have no good in addition to Thee." But this is only what we find in verse 5, and effaces an important thought.
(8) " [It is] for the saints." This is only a slight change from the A. V. A common sense of I' with the verb "to be" (often understood) is "belonging to;" and so many understand it here. We cannot join it with the previous "I have said," as many suggest, because the construct form addirei, the "excellent," requires us to say "in whom" rather than "in them." Nor will the critics allow "as for them." It seems to me that the third verse is said to Jehovah as well as the second.
(8) "Detain:" literally, "bind me." It is often used in the sense of admonishing, correcting, but not necessarily.
Connections.-(4) To understand this we must see the Lord's position as the ideal Israel before God according to Isaiah 49:1-6 and Matthew 2:15 comp. with Hosea 11:1. God's great contention with them all through was on account of their idolatry. And though that unclean spirit had gone out when the Lord was on earth, it will return as He warned them. (Matt. 12: